Passenger Arrested At Cuban Airport With 66 Tiny Birds Sewn Into His Pants

Passenger Arrested At Cuban Airport With 66 Tiny Birds Sewn Into His Pants

This pisses me off.
Those poor little babies.

A man has been arrested at Ignacio Agramonte International Airport in the Cuban city of Camaguay – for attempting to board a flight to the United States with 66 Cuban Grassquits sewn inside his pants. They noticed he had a bulge in his trousers.

After he was stopped by customs, the man claimed he was ‘only’ concealing a pigeon as a gift for his grandson.

He was then forced to remove his pants and officers found dozens of frightened little finches and hummingbirds, some of them had horrifically had their beaks sealed shut so they would not be heard chirping.

All the birds were rare species and had probably been stolen to order for the equivalent of thousands of dollars, police said.

A customs officer, Hermogenes Yonsiver noticed the unusual bulges, and the slow way in which he was walking, and decided to take him into an inspection room for a body search.

“As soon as he knew the game was up he tried to lie his way out of it and say he was carrying a pigeon. He said: “What I have here is a pigeon that is a gift for my grandson” but that too was a lie. He then wanted to continue on his way. But he was forced to take down his trousers, and we found all these frightened little finches and hummingbirds, some of whom had their beaks sealed shut so that we wouldn’t hear their singing,’ said officer Yonsiver.

Two of the birds stashed near his genitals were dead when police ordered him to strip. Police say the man is still being questioned and faces up to two years in prison.

The trade in endangered species worldwide is climbing.

Two weeks ago in Germany a man was stopped at Frankfurt Airport en-route to Spain with 99 rare tortoises, lizards and snakes wrapped in sticky tape in his suitcase. Havana – Airport officials in Cuba arrested a passenger attempting to leave the island with scores of native birds hidden inside his trousers, press reports said Thursday.

The Cuban Grassquit is a small bird with a short beak, with brown and olive green plumage, with black and yellow around the face and throat. The bird, whose biological name is Tiaris canorus, is not considered to be at risk of extinction but nevertheless is protected under Cuban law.